Atlanta's Own Berlin Wall

In 1961, in response to East Germans leaving for the West in large groups, the German Democratic Republic built a wall to keep them in. Appearing virtually overnight, the Berlin Wall sealed away East from West, and with it any freedom of movement left to the East Germans. As the Cold War became a hard divide between capitalism and communism, the Berlin Wall became the West’s symbol of their separation.

Many US politicians used the Berlin Wall to criticize communism generally. President John F. Kennedy traveled to West Berlin to condemn the wall in his famous “ich bin ein Berliner” speech, where he sided with the West in the face of the East. Some twenty odd years later, Ronald Reagan commanded then leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall!” Even Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. himself criticized the wall in his inaugural mayoral address, saying: “it was in Berlin that the tragic and dramatic lesson of what happens to a divided city came home to me.”

After the construction of the Atlanta Wall, protesters highlighted the hypocrisy of criticizing the Berlin Wall when their own city government built a wall of their own. Protesters realized that the Atlanta Wall had virtually the same objective as the Berlin Wall: to separate one population of the city from the other. In a letter complaining about the wall, R.A. Thompson, Executive Director of the Atlanta Urban League, said: “The closing of Peyton Road near Dr. Harris’ property is considered as a “Berlin Wall” which we are all ashamed of.” Another newspaper claimed, “the entire free world has assailed the "Wall" built by the Russians and Communists of East Berlin along the East and West Berlin border. Shortly after Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen was elected mayor of our city, primarily due to the crucial African American vote, he visited Berlin. Mr. Allen condemned the "Berlin Wall." Now just a year after the Mayor's election, a proposal was presented by the Board of Aldermen attributed to Mayor Allen and others which brings a "Berlin Wall" to Atlanta, as they attempt to close or "Wall-in" several city streets.” The hypocrisy of the wall in the face of Allen’s own words was  lost on protesters.